All the news you'll ever need to know: Clicking on this link will take you to the main Queen page. News of the Wowowd Overall Album Score: 7.5 out of 10 News of the World is rather grim ... after impressing me and everyone else with five smashingly good albums, they come up with this relative downer. It's an album that lacks the same vision and artistic pretenses (as little as there was) as Queen did in their previous albums! Although, this album does have two songs that Queen is very famous for (or infamous for penning). "We Will Rock You" and "We Are the Champions." I have absolutely no problem with either of these songs! I think they're both pretty good, even though they are overplayed! (They are such overplayed songs that I have no doubt in my mind that there isn't a single person in the United States who hasn't heard the thumping of "We Will Rock You" or wouldn't be able to hum a few bars of "We Are the Champions" from memory.) There are other songs in the album, but none of these ones are even remotely as famous! The slightly disturbing but awesome "Sheer Heart Attack," the rather lovely but stupid "Spread Your Wings," the aggressive "Flight From the Inside," and the jazzy "My Melancholy Blues" serve the rest of the album's best moments. However, the album's score is severely dragged down by the presence of the barely listenable "Get Down, Make Love," and a handful of totally unexciting tracks. Even though it has a few of Queens signature tunes on it, this is only for the established Queen fan! (And, really, who would want to own this album just because it has "We Will Rock You" and "We Are the Champions" on it? Don't you hear those songs enough?) Overall Album Score: 7.5 out of 10 (Overall, this is a rather disappointing album for Queen. They needed to beef up some of this material! Too much of it is weak!) Average Song Score: 8.0 (There are, of course, the two uber-famous songs in here ... and then there's also a handful of other pretty good songs. Unfortunately, there's also a handful of mediocre material.) Album Tilt: 7.5 (The inconsistency of this album is a point of distraction.) Artist Rating: 7.0 (Easily, this is Queen's least impressive artistic effort ever since they started.) Track Reviews We Will Rock You 9.5/10 Okay. Let's cease all talk about "We Will Rock You" not being a good song. Yeah, I'll admit that it's stupid, but just because a song is stupid that doesn't automatically disqualify it from being a frontrunner in the "good song" competition. For its purpose, it does everything it needed. It has a beat that everyone sitting in bleacher seats can pound their feet to, Freddie gives a good vocal performance, and there's even some licks of the electric guitar. I've heard people call this 'brutish.' I won't deny it! I actually like it for being brutish! And, you know, this is also probably the most recognizable song from sporting events ... exactly how many of you can resist the urge to stomp? We Are the Champions 10/10 I've heard rumors that this song is actually a gay anthem. Whether that's true of its original intentions or not, this song also managed to wedge itself quite nicely into sporting events. Yeah ... all of the 6 billion people in the world have probably heard this song 20,000 too many times, but ... man ... just listen to it objectively and try to figure out why it gets played all the time. ... Because it's a good song, right? Very good arena-rock, I say. Sheer Heart Attack 8.5/10 ...The cover song ... for a Queen album that this isn't on? ... Freaks! ... This is a very difficult song to listen to at a very high volume. It's pounding, repetitious, and ... for some reason that I'm not quite aware of at the moment ... it's really awesome. All Dead, All Dead 7/10 Booooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooringggggggg! ... It's more boring than that time we watched the Queen Mum walk down to Buckin'am Palace without her motorized scooter... But, mhhhhmhmhhmmmm, I shalt not condemn thy Queen song, for I am a merciful we reviewer. Spread Your Wings 8.5/10 Okay, look. This is the dumbest song EVER. It might even be dumber than "We Will Rock You." ... I freaking hate these stupid lyrics. But ...... gasp ...... I like the melody a lot. Flight From the Inside 9/10 This is a neat song! ... I really like the aggressive tone of this one. It's very 70s and very awesome, too. Get Down, Make Love 5/10 This song, in one word, SUCKS! ... Now, there is a hint of a melody here and ... I guess that strange groove can be viewed as slightly artistic by some. But ... crap! This song is hardly even listenable! Arrrrrgh! Sleeping on the Sidewalk 7/10 Totally blah Queen attempting to do old-time R&B. Who Needs You 8/10 This is totally inoffensive, light pop! ... It's pleasant, but it doesn't exactly make an impression. There's some very good hooks in it, though, as we all know Queen to be rather famous for. It's Late 7/10 Whew... While this isn't a bad song, it sure does seem to fall like a huge bomb. This song does very little for me. But, again, the vocal performances are nothing but top notch. Vocal performances alone are a good reason to get into Queen. My Melancholy Blues 9/10 Queen did a really nice job with this one! This is a very light and tuneful jazz song. Mercury gives a nice vocal performance and ... yup! This is just pleasant! Hurrah! Send me some newwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwssssssssss here! gg@vv (Graham Fyfe) received Dec. 22, 2004 I enjoy your site a lot, but I really disagree with your takes on some of the songs on this album. I think this album's full of interesting and underrated Queen songs once the two singles at the start are out of the way - I'm glad you like 'Fight From The Inside', as I also think that it's excellent and one of Taylor's best ever songs, but I think that you overlook 'It's Late' and 'All Dead All Dead', two really emotive May compositions. And I'm kind of confused why you hate 'Get Down Make Love' and then enjoy 'Body Language' from Hot Space; to my ears the former is much more accessible and pleasant, while the latter is a straight out embarrasment. Keep up the good work on your site. Don Ignacio responds: I had this album, it seems, for ages, and I never did enjoy it. "Get Down, Make Love" is perhaps my most significant, deviant call on this review. George Starostin had that track recorded as the album's best before he took down his site! Anyway, I'm glad that you enjoy the site, and I enjoy yours, too! palacerevolution2000@yahoo.com (Chelsea) received April 21, 2007 Why doesn't anyone ever hit on Queen's absolute best song buried here on this album? "It's Late" on a strong guitar riff with a real rockin section that kicks into over drive. Great vocals. That alone makes this my fave Queen album. And I know them all inside out because my girlfriend is a Queen fanatic.

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